The Bracelets
by Twilight Memories
Summary: [one shot] Mistral muses over her time spent in The World and of Kite's bracelet. Hearing of Shugo's own that he “inherited”, she is curious if it's the same thing or not.


_I felt like doing another .hack story (considering i am always in this one other section :o) and then this idea came into mind, and the thoughts i made Mistral think, i kind of think them too, with the whole diverse bracelet thing, oh, just read to see what i'm talkin' about. This is merely a product of boredom so sorry if it's not that good..._

_Hmm... i seem to get a lot of stuff from boredom..._

_Ah well. I have no idea where my .hack/LotT manga is so sorry if some information is wrong... i'm just doing some of this out of sheer memory. So gimme a break, k? Well, enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing of .hack except for the 4 games, 3 manga, and 2 graphic novels. Nothin' more. Ooh, and a DVD or two of .hack/SIGN... Eheheh... n.n'_

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The Bracelets

I had been playing The World for quite sometime before I quit; it is hard to remember exactly how long it really was. My first trip into the virtual game was almost like everyone else's, I had heard about the game and I wanted to try it out for myself, and when I did, I was in awe, almost immediately hooked.

But I couldn't stay on forever, despite how fun that could possibly be, especially with all the rare items just calling out to me! I had duties in the real world and had not too long ago married and I was already expecting a child. So I would log off when I had to (usually when I realized dinner was burning) and go back to the real world.

Life continued like that, my husband was usually out and I would be left alone at home with The World to keep me company. I would eventually prepare myself something to eat and then try to finish up the chores that I had left to finish at the last moment. Alrighty, so I procrastinate at times, but doesn't everyone?

Though I have to admit, even if my entrance to the wondrous MMORPG was quite similar to everyone else's, my journeys sure weren't the same! It wasn't long after I joined The World that I came across a young boy by himself in a dungeon, fighting an unusually strong and odd designed monster. He used this bracelet that appeared out of nowhere and poof! The monster was turned into a low level creature that he defeated soon after.

It was so _cool!_

After that I confronted him and we talked some. I quickly gave him my member address before I left in a hurry to save my burnt meal that was in the oven… again.

But I was intrigued, never before had I seen anything as awesome as that! It was incredible, I mean, who else would get to see such a beautiful rare item that he had? I wanted it SO bad. Still kind of do, even though I don't play anymore, but I now have my reasons as to why Kite (the boy) deserved to keep it.

After a while of playing with him, I learned that Kite was on a mission to save his comatose friend, Yasuhiko, whom I learned was known as Orca of the Azure Sea, a Descendent of Fianna, in The World. Wow! Another rare treat to know!

I love rare stuff. Can you tell?

When Kite told me that bit of information I had to consider to myself about all the strange things that had been going on in the game. Once before, I had read a post about a few areas that people couldn't access, and Kite brought me to one, too! More rare treats!

But this was a serious matter, I had heard that there were others that had also collapsed while playing the game, and evidentially Orca was one of them.

So I devoted my time in The World to not only trying to gain as many rare items as possible, but to also help out Kite in any way I could, though I knew I wouldn't be able to stay on long. I was a pregnant woman and I had to take care of my family when it was together, and the due date for my little girl was coming ever so closer. At one point I would have to call it quits for a while, and sure enough, I did.

I talked to Kite about my condition and that I had to stop playing for a while, he seemed surprised when I told him, but congratulated me all the same. I smiled, but after that I felt really bad… I really wanted to continue playing The World so badly and help him on his adventures, but as fate would have it, I had to stop. I had my own responsibilities and I desperately had to take care of them. Oh, and I wanted to see his bracelet in action again so badly, too…!

At that point in the game, The World was, what could most likely appear to be, going on a meltdown. The towns were all infected with raw data and you could see it fly through the air everywhere you went. That was actually kind of neat looking, seeing it all distorted like that, but that's not the point. Something was really wrong and I couldn't help all my friends that I had made in their journey to defeat the Phases.

Oh, I forgot to talk about those. The Phases were these strange monsters that had to be defeated, Kite had to take revenge on the first one, or so he told me, that had caused Orca to become unconscious. He said that it was that monster's fault (Skeith, was it?) that his friend was in that condition.

I think he had brought me along with him to fight one of them, and boy, was that thing tough! But at the end I got to see Kite use his bracelet against the thing and make it weaker, but strangely enough it was still almost as strong as before! So weird but so cool! I got to see a lot of rare things within The World and I am happy that I did.

Eventually, after the birth, I was able to go back on The World again, but only for very short periods of time. Taking care of a baby girl isn't easy! But when I did, I realized that the situation had become even more serious than before. Kite had fought a few more Phases during my absence and he knew that something was about to happen. Everyone knew it. I did, too.

And when the final battle came we all fought hard, using the characters we had trained and made stronger through the time that we used to fight against the strange Phase. It looked like a peanut.

And then a leaf.

And then a weird looking eye.

I never knew The World could consist of so many strange but rare things. It was still pretty cool though.

Some people may say that I don't act like my age, and it's true, I don't always, but I can't help it. I'm fascinated with so many different things and I just can't help it when I jump up and down and point something out. This is merely who I am.

But there was a problem when we fought the last Phase. Kite had earlier destroyed his bracelet, thus there was no longer a way to defeat the creature, as he had used it every time in the past to destroy the previous. Hope seemed lost.

But then a miracle happened, we defeated the Phase without the bracelet, and Aura was born. Aura is the ultimate A.I. that was born when the last Phase was defeated. At least I think that's how it was… She's supposed to be The World now, the pretty girl in white.

So the game went back to its previous peaceful state and we were all happy. I had a baby girl with me that I so dearly love (I named her Mirei), and I still talked with Kite and our other friends too.

But after a while, as Mirei became older, I decided it was time to quit playing The World. So I did, and at one point I told Mirei about the game and she decided that she wanted to play it. Now Mirei, even though she is still very young, is very smart. I let her play and that she did, using my own character, Mistral, that I had created and she changed her name to Mireille.

So she played the game and, as I had done, obsessively searched for rare items too. Ha-ha, I think it's so funny how she's almost like I am in that game. She became a rare item hunter, like I had been.

But something interesting happened after a while… She met a boy named Shugo and his sister Rena that she said had the exact same avatars as Kite had, along with BlackRose, the one who helped Kite out on most of his journeys. This was intriguing, I thought to myself. Mirei even said that he had a bracelet that was really special and rare, that she wanted to have it for herself, but she let Shugo keep it (sounds like me, doesn't it?).

When she told me that, I remembered back to the times when I too played The World and how Kite had a bracelet as well. Did this Shugo character receive the same thing? Knowing this information, I had to find out the truth for myself.

So one day while Mirei was away, I snuck back into The World one more time, just to take a look for myself. And sure enough, I eventually found Shugo, and the girl Rena, but I immediately knew something was different.

For one, their avatars were slightly off from Kite's and BlackRose's. They were smaller, that was really the only thing. And when I noticed the bracelet, I knew that that couldn't be the same bracelet that I once knew. Reason why? I could actually see it. Kite's bracelet was invisible, and this boy claimed to own the legendary hero's trinket?

I think not, but I am a little unsure of what it could really be. Perhaps it really was the same one, just… different. But how could that be? When Kite's bracelet did become visible, when it became active, it was a complex piece of artwork! So pretty, so rare, so wonderful, I want it so bad…

Oh, off track. But I couldn't believe what my eyes told me, that bracelet did not look like Kite's. It was small and tiny, golden and in the shape of a nut. Like a nut you would use in building things.

Although I'm curious as to whether it really was Kite's bracelet or not, I might as well just leave The World alone and let Mirei have her own fun and adventures. I had my share of them and they were quite fun indeed, and now it was her turn. But still… that bracelet…

If I had to pick which one I wanted, I would go with Kite's.

Though it is claimed to be the same genuine thing, I don't know if I want to believe it. The bracelet that Shugo was wearing was interesting, yes, but something was off. I don't know what, but something just didn't seem to fit.

Oh, well. I don't know if it really matters… Both are pretty but I still want Kite's bracelet and… Oops… I burnt dinner again… I had snuck on The World once more to talk to another old friend, Balmung, whom had also helped solve The World's mysteries in the past.

Might as well get off now, so I told my friend goodbye and logged off.

But those bracelets will never leave my mind. That is for sure. If Shugo's is really the same thing, I'll never know, but as for now, I don't really need to.


End file.
